As with many school systems across the United States, Arizona Schools have several measurement and accountability programs in place to improve student scholastic achievement. One accountability program for the Arizona schools is the AZ LEARNS achievement program. AZ LEARNS holds all Arizona schools accountable for the performance of their students and teachers, measuring performance over several years versus a snapshot one-year measurement. The AZ LEARNS evaluation is based upon four established measurements already required by the Arizona schools. They are:
• AIMS Scores — Measures reading, language arts and mathematics for elementary schools; and reading, writing and mathematics for high schools.
• MAP — Measure of Academic Progress for schools, where students scores for AIMS and SATs are compared to the state average.

• Graduation/Dropout Rates — Used for the high schools.
• AYP — Adequate Yearly Progress measures student proficiency in the state’s academic standards of reading and mathematics over time.
The AZ LEARNS program for the Arizona schools categorizes schools on a graded scale as either:
• Failing to meet academic standards,
• Underperforming,
• Performing,
• Highly Performing, or
• Excelling.
The Arizona schools for the 2004-2005 school year that were named Excelling are (listed by district/charter and school):
Arizona schools’ Academy of Tucson, Inc. Academy of Tucson Middle School
Arizona schools’ Alhambra Elementary District Alhambra Traditional School
Arizona schools’ Allen-Cochran Enterprises, Inc.

West Gilbert Charter Elementary
School
Arizona schools’ Young Elementary District Young Teaching High School
In addition to the Excelling schools, Arizona schools named 255 schools across the state as Highly Performing schools.